The subject matter herein relates generally to an assembly for mounting communication connectors to a wall in a system or device, such as a backplane of a backplane communication system.
Backplane or midplane communication systems, such as network systems, servers, data centers, and the like, utilize large circuit boards that are known as backplanes or midplanes. The terms “backplane” and “midplane” may be used interchangeably with respect to the subject matter described herein. The backplanes may be used to interconnect communication devices, such as daughter card assemblies. The daughter card assemblies include line card assemblies and switch card assemblies. In such communication systems, high-speed differential electrical connectors mounted to the backplane mate with electrical connectors of the daughter card assemblies to transmit data signals through the communication system. In a conventional backplane communication system, the backplane is a large circuit board having conductive traces that interconnect the differential connectors of the backplane. The backplane and other components of the system are typically held by a chassis or cabinet.
More recently, the conventional backplane communication systems have been replaced by cable backplane systems. In a cable backplane system, cable connectors are mechanically mounted to a circuit board or a similar structure, such as sheet metal. Instead of traces, the cable connectors are communicatively coupled to one another through cables. The cable connectors may operate in a similar manner as the electrical connectors of the conventional system. By using cables, cable backplane systems avoid the use of traces through the backplane circuit board and, in some cases, may avoid using the large backplane circuit board altogether.
Both the conventional backplane systems and cable backplane systems have certain challenges. For example, both conventional and cable backplane systems have several components, such as line card assemblies, switch card assemblies, cooling fans, power supplies, etc., that must be held at designated positions within the system. Due to the large number of components along the backplane, access to certain parts of the chassis is limited. This problem can be worse for cable backplane systems in which the cables that interconnect the electrical connectors are typically located on one side of the backplane. The number of cables can be large and require a large amount of space to route them. Consequently, it can be challenging to install components when areas of the backplane are covered or blocked by other components of the system. For example, it can be difficult to mount components to the backplane using fasteners, such as screws.
Accordingly, a need remains for a mechanism of suitably mounting components to a support wall, such as a backplane in a backplane communication system.